Marilyn’s Cheater Roasted Garlic

Well, this is what my intern Carol calls it.
With it’s delicious rich, sweet taste, I love adding roasted garlic to many dishes, sauces and spreads, but roasting the whole bulb with the skin on and then trying to scoop it out of the papery skins is a royal pain.

Here’s what I do instead:
Preheat the oven to 400°
Peel 1 bulb of garlic and put it into a ramekin.
Cover with olive oil.
Put the ramekin with the garlic and olive oil onto a sheet pan and place in the oven.The cookie sheet bit is kinda important. You don’t want to try and pull a hot ramekin filled with oil out of the oven on it’s own. Kinda dangerous. It’s guaranteed to spill on you.Set the timer for 4 minutes. When 4 minutes is up check to see if the oil is bubbling.
No bubbling? Give it another minute or so. Yes bubbling? Take the sheet pan with the ramekin of garlic and oil out of the oven and allow the garlic and oil to cool enough to handle it.
To use the roasted garlic, use a small spoon to remove it from the oil then smash the garlic cloves using the flat side of your knife.
You now also have some delicious garlicky oil to use also. But this is not oil that you can store for a while. You can refrigerate it but use it in a few days.

I’ve come to love this roasted garlic in my pesto, mashed cauliflower and mashed potatoes to name just a few dishes.